Vol 57 No 25 | ZAMBIA Preparing for the worst 16th December 2016 Spending cuts announced in November should ease negotiations in January for an IMF package. Shocks are in store The much-needed International Monetary Fund financial package expected in January will be accompanied by drastic cutbacks and a drop in living standards. Major cuts to fuel, electricity and...
Vol 57 No 25 | ZAMBIA Lungu against the law 16th December 2016 The President may be comfortably installed in State House but he is not easing up on institutions which get in his way The latest public body to feel President Edgar Lungu's enmity is the judiciary, which has been granting petitions to nullify some constituencies' results in the 16 August polls....
Vol 57 No 23 | ZAMBIA A heartbeat away from Lungu 18th November 2016 After the fevered election campaign Lusaka's politicking remains in overdrive as plotters seek to oust the Vice-President President Edgar Lungu sacked the Information Minister and Chief Government Spokesperson, Chishimba Kambwili, a founding member of the Patriotic Front, on 8 November. Although no official reasons were...
Vol 57 No 23 | ZAMBIA Post mortem 18th November 2016 When the Lusaka High Court 'provisionally' closed independent newspaper and website The Post on 2 November, its Editor and owner, Fred M'membe, told his confidants, 'It's time to...
Vol 57 No 18 | ZAMBIA Judges in the firing line 9th September 2016 The opposition petition against the election failed but Lungu is still gunning for the judiciary When the Constitutional Court threw out the United Party for National Development (UPND)'s petition to dismiss the presidential election result because of fraudulent votes, it triggered a new...
Vol 57 No 18 | ZAMBIA Political football claims aide 9th September 2016 The sacking of State House Permanent Secretary Emmanuel Chilubanama on 29 August surprised many in Lusaka. Together with fellow State House aide Kaizar Zulu, he had played a...
Vol 57 No 17 | ZAMBIA Lungu's victory under fire 26th August 2016 The opposition legal challenge to the President's narrow win seems unlikely to succeed but there are major holes in his defence Most pundits think that the opposition petition submitted to the Constitutional Court challenging President Edgar Lungu's much criticised election victory has only a slim chance of success. If...
Vol 57 No 16 | ZAMBIA Racing to the finish 5th August 2016 While the President cracks down on critics, defectors back his rival and try to bring their ethnic support with them The electoral return match on 11 August between President Edgar Lungu of the governing Patriotic Front (PF) and Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND)...
Vol 57 No 15 | ZAMBIA Lungu's media vendetta 22nd July 2016 The President is determined to keep an opposition-supporting newspaper off the streets, seemingly at any cost President Edgar Lungu wishes to keep The Post, the newspaper and news website which is his declared opponent, closed until after the 11 August election, say sources close...
Vol 57 No 15 | ZAMBIA Kaizar the kingpin 22nd July 2016 Presidential advisor Kaizar Zulu is the architect – or is blamed for – a ruthless re-election strategy Most people in Lusaka see Kaizar Zulu merely as President Edgar Lungu's State House sidekick but as the top aide puts it himself, nobody gets to see his...
Vol 57 No 14 | ZAMBIA A close political race gets angrier 8th July 2016 The government has closed the leading independent newspaper which uncovered plans to rig next month's election Credible claims of bias at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and the suspicious inflation of the number of registered voters are heating up the campaign ahead of... READ FOR FREE
Vol 57 No 13 | ZAMBIA Not the last Post 24th June 2016 Ahead of national elections on 11 August, the government has shut Post Newspapers, publisher of the country's biggest selling daily, claiming the company has failed to pay its...
Vol 57 No 5 | ZAMBIA Lungu schemes to survive 4th March 2016 In an unpredictable political landscape, the President is pulling out the stops to win the next elections Elected by a narrow margin in January 2015 and presiding over an economy in free fall, President Edgar Lungu is trying to strengthen his position through constitutional amendments...